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"Firefox Home (the default New Tab) now allows users to display up to 4 rows of top sites, Pocket stories, and highlights" Yay, I always wanted to see more spa

"Firefox Home (the default New Tab) now allows users to display up to 4 rows of top sites, Pocket stories, and highlights" Yay, I always wanted to see more spam in it! (had the "fun" experience of needing to figure out again how to disable new spammy things from new tab page on mobile despite having already done so before)

nine_k 8y ago
"Highlights" is not "spam", it's pages you willingly opened and browsed through for long enough. or something. It's not useless if you're prone to rummaging through recent history trying to find that site you looked at 4 hours ago and closed, but want to find and reopen now. I wish I better understood the criteria to highlight, though.
- Aardwolf 8y ago
  Are you sure? Here is what "recommended by pocket", which automatically appeared recently, shows for me [edit: this is non-personalized as mentioned in a comment]: "buzzfeednews: Teachers are moonlighting as instagram influencers to make ends meet" trending "vox: a history of happiness explains why capitalism makes us feel empty inside" trending "theguardian: chanel shoes, but no salary: how one woman exposed the scandal of the french fashion industry" trending I have never visited those pages before. I had clean new tab pages showing only most commonly visited pages before, and suddenly automatically this stuff appeared in it now. I consider this spam, yes. Also, for most commonly visited pages, all it gives me is an orange square with only an "R" in it for reddit or a green square with an "N" in it for hacker news, but for the spammy stuff above it gives full titles!
  - nine_k 8y ago
    "Recommended by Pocket" is not "Highlights". Yes, I do disable the "recommended" stuff. When I enable "Highlights" on the new tab page, I see pages I spent a lot of time on lately: e.g. OpenWRT recommended hardware page, Coney Island water temperature page, and a page about the Graphwiz format. None of them are related to anything in Pocket (which I also actively use), or, thank goodness, buzzfeed.
    - ams6110 8y ago
      I disable absolutely everything on the home page/new tabs. My home page is ~/home.html in all browsers. Thus it's the same in Chrome, FF, w3m, whatever. Much easier than remembering how to set bookmarks/favorites in different browsers and keep them all in sync.
      - r3bl 8y ago
        Last time I checked, loading local files as a new tab page required either installing a third party add-on/extension or creating your own[0] in both Firefox and Chrome. Is that still the case? Did you find an easier option? [0] Way easier than one would assume, you just need a manifest file next to your HTML file. EDIT: A local web server instead of loading the HTML file directly also works and avoids the need for add-ons/extensions.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
    Well that can't be very personalised - those 4 links are exactly what I'm getting too!
    - stjohnswarts 8y ago
      I don't think it gets personalized unless you "login" to the your firefox account.
      - zeveb 8y ago
        Which account, as I've documented before, is insecure; you should not have a Firefox account and should not store passwords, browsing history, bookmarks or any other privacy- or security-related data with Mozilla's system. (short version: Mozilla can target you with a small piece of JavaScript to steal your password, then use it offline to decrypt your data)
        muxator 8y ago
        I remember tour comment at the time, but cannot find it right now. Do we know if Mozilla is planning anything to fix this?
        zeveb 8y ago
        > Do we know if Mozilla is planning anything to fix this? Nope, so far as I can tell they are invested in their current approach. In fairness, I will admit that it trades security in order to get a slight improvement in usability. If they'd just make it impossible to log in via JavaScript, and only through the browser UI, then they could increase the security. But they won't do it.
        gruez 8y ago
        source/explanation?
        zeveb 8y ago
  - judah 8y ago
    You're right: Firefox is showing you these even though you didn't visit them. Sadly, many of these "recommendations" are from politically charged sites. Vox is notoriously far-left, Buzzfeed is leftist and often features sensational, click-bait headlines. Disappointed these are showing up on my Firefox homepage.
  - fasafsafsf 8y ago
    I have disabled all the Pocket stuff on my Firefox so I didn't see this, but it does not surprise me (even though it disappoints me) that the Mozilla Corporation is using the Firefox home page to push left-wing news.
    - nine_k 8y ago
      What a progressive company from Mountain View, CA, would be sticking to? I believe it's sort of hard to be right-wing in a place like that, at least publicly. I also suppose that this may be the default for a particular audience / geolocation. That is, maybe they'd show a different thing in Russia (sorry, I don't have a Russian VPN), and maybe even a different thing in Texas. Or maybe something based on your previous browsing history (e.g. if you read something like zerohedge a lot, they might show you a different, more aligned site). I don't know, and am not inclined to thoroughly experiment. But the complete source is there, and it must be a relatively recent addition, so anybody interested could just dive in and find out. Yay Mozilla!
      - fasafsafsf 8y ago
        First, they could be sticking to neutral news. Those exist. Second, I don't believe the source code of the algorithm that picks which news to show you is available... If there's an algorithm at all, because chances are it's curated by humans.
        nine_k 8y ago
        Neutral news? I'd appreciate a few examples (unless it's the paid news agencies feeds).
        def_true_false 8y ago
        Many news agencies have free content as well.
        BuckRogers 8y ago
        The closest thing to that is trying to go back 30 years ago. Find sources that are not sensationalizing the news. That's the best indicator IMO for "news". Meaning, things that are happening, not what people are saying or doing (what Trump or someone else is saying etc). My recommendations for this are the BBC RSS feed, PBS NewsHour for nightly news / video (Youtube or OTA antenna) and a local paper RSS feed (Chicago Tribune for me). Though that paper has long been considered politically biased (to the right), local events are probably more important than national or worldwide news coverage so one has to bite the bullet at a point. BBC/Tribune/PBS are simply exceptional reporting, regardless of any leanings, and I'd put that ahead of worrying about a lack of total neutrality. It's a little overblown. It's been clear for some time now that there's a bit of a struggle for right-wingers on being able to mentally muster their way through biased reporting (real or perceived). There's a lot of weak and fragile people around today, can't even watch or read something that doesn't cater to their sensitivities. It used to be that a right-winger aspired to be John Wayne. Now they're all-in on victimhood culture. If they did anything in their life at all, like get off the couch to join the military (which is a government dependent of the worst kind- one that leads to people getting killed, rather than an unpaid, sacrificial service), they're deeply offended if you're not constantly kissing the ring. Maybe checking just the AP releases would be the best way to get "neutral news", but I think if you just hunt for sources that explicitly do not sensationalize the news, something Fox News brought into popularity, you'll get most of the way there.
TremendousJudge 8y ago
...there's a little cog wheel at the top right?
- Karunamon 8y ago
  Defaults matter. Firefox has this annoying habit of constantly devising new “interesting” things on the new tab page. It’s to the point where you need to install an add on to override it to avoid constant surprises.
- robrtsql 8y ago
  Yes, but Firefox doesn't save the changes you make here to your account sync. Every time you install Firefox somewhere new, you have to change it again if you don't want to see sponsored content.
dcd0101 8y ago
In the current FF there are regular settings to tweak or disable all of that. Similar to what you’d see in Chrome, but with more control.
- Aardwolf 8y ago
  Nothing against FF, I really like its control and the mobile app. But this particular behavior is out of character for it imho.
jdnier 8y ago
That this was the the first thing listed did not make me very interested in reading on. Favorite browser modification: set default page to about:blank
- jancsika 8y ago
  about:blank is my favorite web page. I can add any content I want there. Then if it phones home I have only myself to blame.
  - crtasm 8y ago
    You can put custom html into about:blank? How do I do that please?
    - jancsika 8y ago
      What I mean is adding content dynamically after about:blank loads. You can set contentEditable to "true", inject some innerHTML, use the terrible DOM interface, or make a little JQuery to suit your needs. You can probably also style about:blank to have whatever you want in it when it loads. I'd imagine that is done differently depending on the browser you're using. On the other hand, I'm not sure why you'd want to when you can just set your new tab page to a custom page of your choosing. Edit: clarification

nine_k 8y ago

"Highlights" is not "spam", it's pages you willingly opened and browsed through for long enough. or something. It's not useless if you're prone to rummaging through recent history trying to find that site you looked at 4 hours ago and closed, but want to find and reopen now. I wish I better understood the criteria to highlight, though.

Aardwolf 8y ago
Are you sure? Here is what "recommended by pocket", which automatically appeared recently, shows for me [edit: this is non-personalized as mentioned in a comment]: "buzzfeednews: Teachers are moonlighting as instagram influencers to make ends meet" trending "vox: a history of happiness explains why capitalism makes us feel empty inside" trending "theguardian: chanel shoes, but no salary: how one woman exposed the scandal of the french fashion industry" trending I have never visited those pages before. I had clean new tab pages showing only most commonly visited pages before, and suddenly automatically this stuff appeared in it now. I consider this spam, yes. Also, for most commonly visited pages, all it gives me is an orange square with only an "R" in it for reddit or a green square with an "N" in it for hacker news, but for the spammy stuff above it gives full titles!
- nine_k 8y ago
  "Recommended by Pocket" is not "Highlights". Yes, I do disable the "recommended" stuff. When I enable "Highlights" on the new tab page, I see pages I spent a lot of time on lately: e.g. OpenWRT recommended hardware page, Coney Island water temperature page, and a page about the Graphwiz format. None of them are related to anything in Pocket (which I also actively use), or, thank goodness, buzzfeed.
  - ams6110 8y ago
    I disable absolutely everything on the home page/new tabs. My home page is ~/home.html in all browsers. Thus it's the same in Chrome, FF, w3m, whatever. Much easier than remembering how to set bookmarks/favorites in different browsers and keep them all in sync.
    - r3bl 8y ago
      Last time I checked, loading local files as a new tab page required either installing a third party add-on/extension or creating your own[0] in both Firefox and Chrome. Is that still the case? Did you find an easier option? [0] Way easier than one would assume, you just need a manifest file next to your HTML file. EDIT: A local web server instead of loading the HTML file directly also works and avoids the need for add-ons/extensions.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  Well that can't be very personalised - those 4 links are exactly what I'm getting too!
  - stjohnswarts 8y ago
    I don't think it gets personalized unless you "login" to the your firefox account.
    - zeveb 8y ago
      Which account, as I've documented before, is insecure; you should not have a Firefox account and should not store passwords, browsing history, bookmarks or any other privacy- or security-related data with Mozilla's system. (short version: Mozilla can target you with a small piece of JavaScript to steal your password, then use it offline to decrypt your data)
      - muxator 8y ago
        I remember tour comment at the time, but cannot find it right now. Do we know if Mozilla is planning anything to fix this?
        zeveb 8y ago
        > Do we know if Mozilla is planning anything to fix this? Nope, so far as I can tell they are invested in their current approach. In fairness, I will admit that it trades security in order to get a slight improvement in usability. If they'd just make it impossible to log in via JavaScript, and only through the browser UI, then they could increase the security. But they won't do it.
      - gruez 8y ago
        source/explanation?
        zeveb 8y ago
- judah 8y ago
  You're right: Firefox is showing you these even though you didn't visit them. Sadly, many of these "recommendations" are from politically charged sites. Vox is notoriously far-left, Buzzfeed is leftist and often features sensational, click-bait headlines. Disappointed these are showing up on my Firefox homepage.
- fasafsafsf 8y ago
  I have disabled all the Pocket stuff on my Firefox so I didn't see this, but it does not surprise me (even though it disappoints me) that the Mozilla Corporation is using the Firefox home page to push left-wing news.
  - nine_k 8y ago
    What a progressive company from Mountain View, CA, would be sticking to? I believe it's sort of hard to be right-wing in a place like that, at least publicly. I also suppose that this may be the default for a particular audience / geolocation. That is, maybe they'd show a different thing in Russia (sorry, I don't have a Russian VPN), and maybe even a different thing in Texas. Or maybe something based on your previous browsing history (e.g. if you read something like zerohedge a lot, they might show you a different, more aligned site). I don't know, and am not inclined to thoroughly experiment. But the complete source is there, and it must be a relatively recent addition, so anybody interested could just dive in and find out. Yay Mozilla!
    - fasafsafsf 8y ago
      First, they could be sticking to neutral news. Those exist. Second, I don't believe the source code of the algorithm that picks which news to show you is available... If there's an algorithm at all, because chances are it's curated by humans.
      - nine_k 8y ago
        Neutral news? I'd appreciate a few examples (unless it's the paid news agencies feeds).
        def_true_false 8y ago
        Many news agencies have free content as well.
        BuckRogers 8y ago
        The closest thing to that is trying to go back 30 years ago. Find sources that are not sensationalizing the news. That's the best indicator IMO for "news". Meaning, things that are happening, not what people are saying or doing (what Trump or someone else is saying etc). My recommendations for this are the BBC RSS feed, PBS NewsHour for nightly news / video (Youtube or OTA antenna) and a local paper RSS feed (Chicago Tribune for me). Though that paper has long been considered politically biased (to the right), local events are probably more important than national or worldwide news coverage so one has to bite the bullet at a point. BBC/Tribune/PBS are simply exceptional reporting, regardless of any leanings, and I'd put that ahead of worrying about a lack of total neutrality. It's a little overblown. It's been clear for some time now that there's a bit of a struggle for right-wingers on being able to mentally muster their way through biased reporting (real or perceived). There's a lot of weak and fragile people around today, can't even watch or read something that doesn't cater to their sensitivities. It used to be that a right-winger aspired to be John Wayne. Now they're all-in on victimhood culture. If they did anything in their life at all, like get off the couch to join the military (which is a government dependent of the worst kind- one that leads to people getting killed, rather than an unpaid, sacrificial service), they're deeply offended if you're not constantly kissing the ring. Maybe checking just the AP releases would be the best way to get "neutral news", but I think if you just hunt for sources that explicitly do not sensationalize the news, something Fox News brought into popularity, you'll get most of the way there.

TremendousJudge 8y ago

...there's a little cog wheel at the top right?

Karunamon 8y ago
Defaults matter. Firefox has this annoying habit of constantly devising new “interesting” things on the new tab page. It’s to the point where you need to install an add on to override it to avoid constant surprises.
robrtsql 8y ago
Yes, but Firefox doesn't save the changes you make here to your account sync. Every time you install Firefox somewhere new, you have to change it again if you don't want to see sponsored content.

dcd0101 8y ago

In the current FF there are regular settings to tweak or disable all of that. Similar to what you’d see in Chrome, but with more control.

Aardwolf 8y ago
Nothing against FF, I really like its control and the mobile app. But this particular behavior is out of character for it imho.

jdnier 8y ago

That this was the the first thing listed did not make me very interested in reading on. Favorite browser modification: set default page to about:blank

jancsika 8y ago
about:blank is my favorite web page. I can add any content I want there. Then if it phones home I have only myself to blame.
- crtasm 8y ago
  You can put custom html into about:blank? How do I do that please?
  - jancsika 8y ago
    What I mean is adding content dynamically after about:blank loads. You can set contentEditable to "true", inject some innerHTML, use the terrible DOM interface, or make a little JQuery to suit your needs. You can probably also style about:blank to have whatever you want in it when it loads. I'd imagine that is done differently depending on the browser you're using. On the other hand, I'm not sure why you'd want to when you can just set your new tab page to a custom page of your choosing. Edit: clarification